Blake Pouliot
About this Artist
Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned” (ArtsATL) in his playing, violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star).
Pouliot’s 2023/24 season includes performances across the U.S. and Canada with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Roderick Cox, Artis—Naples and NAC Ottawa with Alexander Shelley, and Quebec City Symphony with Clemens Schuldt, among others. Pouliot makes his Spanish debut with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Spain at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid and plays and directs Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons in a separate chamber program.
During his time as Soloist-in-Residence of Orchestre Métropolitain in 2020/21, Pouliot and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons, which led to Pouliot’s 2022 debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra, performing John Corigliano’s The Red Violin (Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra) with Nézet-Séguin. Highlights elsewhere include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Angela Hewitt and Bryan Cheng, as well as performances of concertos by Paganini, Mendelssohn, and Saint-Saëns and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in subscription series across North America.
As a chamber musician, Pouliot returns this season to NAC Chamber Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and La Jolla SummerFest, where he performed the festival-opening concert last year with conductor Alan Gilbert, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for his third consecutive year as Artist in Residence. He also makes his chamber debut with Festival Napa Valley at the San Francisco Conservatory. Previous recitals include Koerner Hall in Toronto, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the world premiere of Derrick Skye’s God of the Gaps for violin and electronics at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Pouliot released his debut album of 20th-century French music on the Analekta label in 2019. The recording received a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and a 2019 Juno Award nomination for Best Classical Album.
Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has also performed with the orchestras of Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle. Internationally, he has performed as soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic in Bulgaria and Orchestra of the Americas on its South American tour. He was the featured soloist for the first-ever joint tour of the European Union Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Pouliot performs on a 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.